About Me
The Full Story
You want the full story? Ok, my parents met one day in ...
Just kidding. I will start at my education instead. I began my training at a small private university in my home state in the United States where I did my bachelor's degree in counselling and psychology and cross-cultural ministries. I then completed my master's degree in clinical psychology while in the States. Following this, I came to the UK where I did a master's degree in play therapy at the University of Roehampton. Then while undertaking an integrative Doctorate in Counselling Psychology at the University of Roehampton, I honed my skills in Person-Centred therapy, Psychodynamic therapy, and Cognitive Behavioural therapy (CBT).
Although I finished my formal education, I continue to learn and grow through continuing professional development. In recent years, I have focused on learning new and improved methods of treating trauma, stress, low mood, and anxiety. In the last couple years, I have fallen in love with Acceptance and Commitment therapy. You can find a description of these therapies here.
As a pluralistic practitioner, I see the value in each of the therapies and acknowledge that most therapies can achieve similar results through possibly differing methods and different theoretical frameworks. As both a pluralistic and an integrative therapist, I value working collaboratively with my clients to find the best interventions, tools, and techniques from various therapies for each client within the context in that moment.
To integrate the major modalities in therapy, I use Carl Rogers' Person-Centred theory as a foundation. The core principles of Person-Centred therapy are unconditional positive regard, empathy, and congruence along with respect and a non-judgemental attitude. I then like to formulate my client's difficulties from a Psychodynamic, Attachment Theory perspective. This means that I believe that how we were raised in our earliest years by our primary caregiver(s) sets the patterns for how we relate to others, the world, and ourselves for the rest of our lives. Helpful lessons for relating can be strengthened and unhelpful lessons can be adapted into something more helpful. Finally, I find various interventions, tools, and techniques from CBT and ACT helpful for the practical, day to day adjustments that may need to be made to help a client live a more values-based life. Throw in a healthy dose of Mindfulness and Compassion-Focused interventions and you've got the recipe for my brand of pluralistic and integrative psychotherapy.
I have worked both as a short-term therapist using primarily CBT and some time-limited psychodynamic therapy in the NHS and with longer term therapy in my private practice. I have helped clients with a range of difficulties including depression, anxiety, OCD, trauma, self esteem issues, perfectionism, procrastination, and relationship issues. All in all, I have been practicing for more than 20 years and look forward to practicing for many, many more years.
(Please note that I will only treat simple trauma/PTSD online. I believe that complex trauma - trauma that was over the course of many years and repeated incidents - is best treated in person. I do have a limited availability for in-person work on Monday mornings, Thursday mornings, or Friday mornings. There is a possibility for Wednesday mornings if needed.
I am also a registered supervisor with BPS.